New Labour's market failure

We are now in the bizarre situation where a neoconservative Republican US administration is taking far more radical measures than a British Labour government to combat the crisis: cutting interest rates, putting cash in people's pockets, intervening heavily in the financial markets, and now nationalising the country's two largest mortgage lenders, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac...

So writes Seamus Milne, and see also Lenin's Tomb on the dire state of British politics under Brown. What Brown could and should be doing in the midst of this economic crisis is not too difficult to work out - after all, even George W. Bush has managed it, though whether state intervention can always save the day is of course unlikely. As Mark Steel, whose generally disappointing and at times distinctly frustrating new book What's Going On? is reviewed in the latest Socialist Review, points out:

'one of Labour's slogans is still: "For the many, not the few". Maybe they've got the words the wrong way round and need to see an episode of Sesame Street that goes: "Many. Few. Here are millions of people struggling to pay higher fuel bills. They are Many. Many. Here is an oil company boardroom. Are there millions? No, there are nine. Few. Few. Many people pay bills, Few people run off with the money. Many. Few."'